Democrats in disarray on eve of convention

Supporters of Bernie Sanders took to the streets in Philadelphia on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Supporters of Bernie Sanders took to the streets in Philadelphia on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

The head of the Democratic Party has resigned amid a furor over embarrassing leaked emails, hoping to head off a growing rebellion by Bernie Sanders supporters on the eve of the convention to nominate Hillary Clinton for the White House.

Lingering bitterness from their heated primary campaign erupted after more than 19,000 Democratic National Committee emails, leaked on Friday, seemed to confirm Sanders' frequent charge that the party played favorites in the race.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Photo: Reuters
Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Photo: Reuters

In a statement on Sunday, DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the best way for the party to accomplish its goal of putting Clinton in the White House was for her to step down. Sanders had demanded earlier in the day that Wasserman Schultz resign.

"We have planned a great and unified convention this week and I hope and expect that the DNC team that has worked so hard to get us to this point will have the strong support of all Democrats in making sure this is the best convention we have ever had," Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. 

The furor was a blow to a party keen on projecting stability in contrast to the volatility of Republican candidate Donald Trump, who was formally nominated at a raucous convention last week, and overshadowed preparations in Philadelphia for Clinton's coronation as the nominee to face Trump in the US presidential election on November 8.

The four-day Democratic convention will open on Monday. In some good news for Clinton, The New York Times reported that businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will endorse her in a prime-time speech on Monday, saying she will be the best choice for moderate voters in 2016.

The cache of emails leaked on Friday by the WikiLeaks website revealed DNC officials explored ways to undermine Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was really an atheist.

Sanders said Wasserman Schultz, a member of Congress from Florida, had made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party. "The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race," he said.

The cache of more than 19,000 emails leaked on Friday revealed DNC officials explored ways to undermine Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was really an atheist.

The day after Tim Kaine, a US senator from Virginia, made his campaign trail debut as Clinton's potential running mate, Sanders also said he would have preferred she pick US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a favorite of the party's liberal wing, as her No 2.

A RUSSIAN CONNNECTION?

The frustration from Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, suggested the convention could be less serene than hoped by the Clinton camp, which wanted to offer a contrast with last week's chaotic Republican convention.

Liberal groups and Sanders supporters were dismayed by the pick of Kaine, who could appeal to independents and moderates but has never been aligned with party liberals.

But the flap over the Wikileaks documents posed a new threat to party unity. Brad Marshall, the DNC's chief financial officer, apologised on Facebook on Saturday for an email in which he discussed how some voters in upcoming nominating contests in Kentucky and West Virginia would reject an atheist.

No names were mentioned, but Sanders was the only Jewish candidate.

"He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage," Marshall wrote in a May 5 email to three top DNC officials. "I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist."

Sanders said he had not received a personal apology.

Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, raised questions about whether Russians may have had a hand in the hack attack, and were interested in helping Trump, who has offered praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"What's disturbing to us is that experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails and other experts are now saying that Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of helping Donald Trump," he said on CNN's State of the Union.

"I don't think it is coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention," he said.

Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said the Clinton camp was trying to distract from its party discord ahead of the convention.

"Well, it's pure obfuscation on the part of the Clinton campaign," Manafort said on ABC. "What's in those emails show that it was a clearly rigged system, that Bernie Sanders - Sanders never had a chance."

 

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